Marcus Shelby

I hear the same complaint all the time: It just costs too much to go to a concert these days. I feel your pain. Yet, donâ€™t let $150 Bon Jovi tickets scare you away from going to hear live music. It doesnâ€™t have to cost an arm and a leg to get an earful of music.

If you know where to look, you can even get your fix for free.

Beginning May 3, and continuing through Oct. 26, the place to look is Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco. The schedule for the 2008 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival has recently been announced and it features more than 100 events _ all of which are free to the public.

The May 3 kick-off concert featuring Rupa and the April Fishes should be one of the festivalâ€™s top offerings. The Bay Area band delivers an intoxicating mix of international flavors, from tango and bossa nova to gypsy grooves and European-style hot jazz, and is led by Rupa Marya, a doctor of internal medicine at UCSF.

Over the years, Bay Area native Marya has worked with such noted musicians as jazz bassist/composer Marcus Shelby (who appears on the Fishes’ debut album â€œExtraordinary Renditionâ€), Michael Franti & Spearhead, Susana Baca, Aterciopelados and Rodrigo y Gabriela. Her band was recently signed by acclaimed world music label Cumbancha.

Looking beyond the Rupa and the April Fishes concert, which will run 1 to 3 p.m., here are some of the other festival highlights:

Los Vasallos del Sol + Venezuelan Music Project, 1-3 p.m. May 10

Omar Sosaâ€™s Afreecanos Quintet, 1-2:30 p.m. June 8

Patrick Ball, 12:30-1:30pm July 10

Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, 1-2:30 p.m. July 12

Le Jazz Hot, 12:30-1:30 p.m. July 31

Afro Soloâ€™s Jazz in the Gardens, 1-3 p.m. August 2

Tom Rigney & Flambeau, 1-2:30pm August 23

Yerba Buena Gardens is located between Mission and Howard streets and 3rd and 4th streets. For more information, call (415) 543-1718 or visit www.ybgf.org.

Saying goodbye to a legend
The music world has lost another truly great one _ Israel “Cachao” LÃ³pez. The Cuban mambo master, who made his mark as a bassist, bandleader and composer, died March 22 in a Miami-area hospital from complications resulting from kidney failure. He was 89.

The Grammy-winning musician, who was known simply by â€œCachao,â€ will be remembered for pioneering the mambo in Cuba in the â€˜30s and then helping to popularize the style in the United States in the â€˜50s.

Cachao was widely regarded as one of the most significant figures in Cuban music history. He also had an immeasurable impact on other styles of music. I found a very interesting quote about the bassist, from Cuban music historian Ned Sublette, on Wikipedia.com. Sublette ranked Cachao as arguably the single most important bassist in 20th century popular music due to his influence on the bass lines of American R&B music, “which have become such a part of the environment that we don’t even think where they came from.â€

I first learned of Cachaoâ€™s death from John Santos. The East Bay percussionist sent out an e-mail to let the local Latin jazz community know of the loss. Santos has a two-night stand, April 28 and 29, scheduled for Yoshiâ€™s in San Francisco and was greatly looking forward to having Cachao sit in with his group.

Now, the occasion serves as another sad reminder of how important it is to see _ and honor _ these music legends when we get the chance. The great ones like Cachao, unfortunately, arenâ€™t around forever. Given what I know about Santos, a man whose heart is as big as his talent, I expect these shows to serve as moving tributes to the Cuban maestro. For show information, call 415-655-5600 or visit www.yoshis.com.

To learn more about the life and music of this mambo titan, fans should catch the new documentary â€œCachao: Uno Mas.â€ The 68-minute film was produced by the DocFilm Institute of San Francisco State University (my alma mater) and features live concert footage as well as interviews with such admirers as Santos and film star Andy Garcia.

â€œCachao: Uno Masâ€ will be shown as part of the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. April 28 and 1:15 p.m. May 2 at the Sundance Cinemas Kabuki. For more film fest info, call 925-866-9559 or visit www.sfiff.org.

Hollywood North?
The old strategy for breaking into the movie biz was to sit at some bus stop in Hollywood and hope that someone â€œdiscoversâ€ you. Iâ€™m guessing thatâ€™s how such talents as Tara Reid and Nicole Richie got their first breaks.

The new strategy, however, is to first make a mark on the Bay Area jazz scene.

In my last column, I reported that the new Jason Statham film â€œThe Bank Jobâ€ features a version of the Bobby Sharp tune â€œUnchain My Heartâ€ sung by Alamedaâ€™s own Natasha Miller. Now comes the news that Oakland R&B/jazz vocalist Ledisi has scored two high-profile film gigs.

The singer, who lost to Amy Winehouse in the one-sided race for the Best New Artist Grammy back in February, has a bit role in the George Clooney football comedy â€œLeatherheads.â€ In the film, Ledisi plays a blues singer performing at a 1920s-era speakeasy _ and Iâ€™m predicting that she does a knockout job in the role. â€œLeatherheadsâ€ opens at local theaters today.

Ledisi fans should also catch the new Tyler Perry comedy, â€œMeet the Browns,â€ which opened late last month. The singerâ€™s R&B hit â€œAlrightâ€ is featured in the film as well as on the soundtrack.

With Miller and Ledisi getting some major Hollywood love, I have to wonder who will be the next person from the local music scene to get his or her big-screen break? If some hot-shot producer is looking to cast a jazz music critic in an upcoming blockbuster, all I can say is that Iâ€™m ready for my close-up.

Would we still care about Ravi Coltrane if he hadnâ€™t been born to the most famous couple in jazz history?

My experience with the saxophonist _ whoâ€™s the son of John and Alice Coltrane _ leads me to believe the answer is a definitive “yes.â€™â€™

Every time Iâ€™ve seen him perform, Coltrane has delivered the goods. In fact, heâ€™s made my year-end lists of top 10 jazz concerts twice in a row.

In 2005, he combined with his mother at the Masonic in San Francisco for what was one of the most memorable jazz shows Iâ€™ve ever had the privilege to attend. That performance seems all that more poignant today, with the knowledge that it would be the only time I would get to see Alice Coltrane onstage. (She died a little over a year later, in early 2007.) That performance came in at No. 1 on my list of best jazz shows of 2005.

The following year, Coltrane would light up both Yoshiâ€™s. His first stop was in Oakland, back in July, when he led his band in a thrilling evening of improvisational music. That night would rank at No. 7 on my 2006 list.

His second swing through the Bay came in November at the Grand Opening of Yoshiâ€™s San Francisco, as he held his own (and then some) in an all-star band that also featured saxophonist Kenny Garrett, vibraphonist Gary Burton, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and drummer Roy Haynes.

Those concerts were enough to thoroughly convince me that Coltrane would be a star in the jazz world even if his parents were lumberjacks, not jazz immortals. Heâ€™s as good a saxophonist as Iâ€™ve heard in years _ which is the No. 1 reason, well above his lineage, why we are so lucky to have him performing in our midst.

The 42-year-old rising star, who is named after sitar guru Ravi Shankar, will play Friday (Feb. 8th) at the Amador Theater in Pleasanton. Showtime is 8 p.m. The theater is located on the Amador Valley High School campus at 1155 Santa Rita Road. Tickets are $20-$40. Call www.civicartstickets.org or visit 925-931-3444.

For Harriet

Local bassist Marcus Shelby is set to pay tribute to a true hero on Saturday (Feb. 9) in Pittsburg. Heâ€™ll lead his Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra _ featuring Pittsburg vocalist Faye Carol _ in his new “Harriet Tubmanâ€™â€™ jazz oratorio at 7:30 p.m. at the Creative Arts Building on the Pittsburg High School campus.

Tubman, of course, was one of the key figures of the Civil War era. Born into slavery, she would later escape from captivity and then help hundreds of others do the same on the Underground Railroad. She would later also carry the torch for the womenâ€™s suffrage movement.

Shelbyâ€™s concert is tied to the cityâ€™s new literacy project, which has arranged for the purchase of 1,650 Tubman books for local students. The kids get to keep the books, as well as special Tubman posters, and have the chance to hear Shelby perform his piece. The event is also open to the general public.

For more information, call 925-432-4992 or visit www.cabconcerts.com.

Romantic evening

If you havenâ€™t made plans yet for Valentineâ€™s weekend (yes, dear lovebirds, it lasts a full weekend this year), then you might want to think about spending Feb. 16 with Ellen Robinson at Annaâ€™s Jazz Island in Berkeley.

Robinson is a gifted singer who will be accompanied by a terrific band at Annaâ€™s. Backing the vocalist on a set of romantic ballads and timeless jazz standards will be pianist Jon Herbst, drummer Bud Spangler, bassist John Shifflett and saxophonist Anton Schwartz.

Dave Eshelman recently retired from running the Jazz Studies program at Cal State East Bay, but heâ€™s not ready for the rocking chair just yet. Instead, the trombonist will lead his longtime group, Dave Eshelmanâ€™s Jazz Garden Big Band, in concert at 8 and 10 p.m. Monday (Feb. 11) at Yoshiâ€™s at Jack London Square in Oakland.

For these sets, the Jazz Garden Big Band will feature three of Eshelmanâ€™s former students: pianist Colin Hogan and trombonists Jeanne Geiger and Doug Beavers.

This is your chance to support a man who has done so much for the local jazz community over the years. Tickets are $15. Call 510-238-9200 or visit www.yoshis.com.

Jazz from the Sky

Want to witness the next generation of local jazz talent? Then check out the annual Oakland Unified School District Jazz Festival at 6:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 7) at Skyline High, 12250 Skyline Blvd., Oakland. The festivities will include a performance by the Skyline Jazz Band, which is reportedly one of the best young ensembles in the area. Admission is free. The Skyline Jazz Band will also perform at Yoshiâ€™s at Jack London Square on March 10. Admission wonâ€™t be free.